SEO: “Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists”

bySimononOctober 13, 2009

Here’s a passionately written blog post which has gone viral, and which should interest anyone involved in writing search engine optimised copy. I found it through Boing Boing (my main source of news these days, I have to admit) – and it’s a post in which the writer has a real good go at anyone involved in SEO:

“Search Engine Optimization is not a legitimate form of marketing. It should not be undertaken by people with brains or souls. If someone charges you for SEO, you have been conned.”

That’s just how it starts. There’s more. Lots more:

And so, like the goat sacrificers and snake oil salesmen before them, a new breed of con man was born, the Search Engine Optimizer. These scammers claim that they can dance the magic dance that will please the Google Gods and make eyeballs rain down upon you.

Do. Not. Trust. Them.

I have a lot of sympathy with the opinions in this post, even though I sometimes write about SEO, and offer it as part of my copywriting service. I don’t do everything connected with SEO, simply writing web copy in a way that Google’s spiders will find the search terms.

It’s actually pretty simple stuff – and a way it is obvious, as Derek says in his piece.

On the other hand, I was involved in creating SEO copy for a web designer the other day – a company which itself offers an SEO service, and yet I had to explain to them some of the basics, such as optimising one page for no more than one or two search terms.

The same company was also planning to optimise its site for the term “online solutions.”

I had to explain that I didn’t think anyone goes into Google and searches for “solutions”. Do they?

So, while much of SEO may be “obvious” to those in the know, most people don’t have to engage with all this stuff.

Isn’t that the basis of most professions, from lawyers and doctors to designers and chefs? You specialise in one area that may not be rocket science – but because you specialise, you know what needs doing.

Nontheless, Derek has a lot of good points to make about how the quest for Google love is distorting and harming web content. It’s actually a subject close to my heart.

I am an SEO too and unfortunately people leave reality behind when it comes to writing copy. Just because you have a lot of big words in your head doesn’t mean that people are searching for them.
Lyndon

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